tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-42135979298540740542018-02-16T06:34:12.638-08:00This is my WorldEditor, author, book reviewerNerine Dormanhttps://plus.google.com/104344772143861034423noreply@blogger.comBlogger804125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4213597929854074054.post-29399334272868590292018-02-16T06:34:00.001-08:002018-02-16T06:34:12.802-08:00To query or not to query... At some point of an author's life, they might decide to query a literary agent. For those of you who're currently asking, "Pray tell, what is this literary agent thing, and why do I need it?" I'm going to go through the basics of the querying process that I've been following for the past ... well. A while. I had a literary agent once, but we weren't a right fit, and to be honest, a literary agent is only really going to be useful to you if you're writing fiction that has commercial value. To be honest, no agent is better than a bad agent, so here I am...<div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-bjdtqiCsTCM/UmmH3GWqkQI/AAAAAAAACzo/3QMG6tOKQpkV5QhxmYOn1crk1G-XjDiwgCPcBGAYYCw/s1600/IMG_20130724_193411.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1260" data-original-width="1260" height="320" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-bjdtqiCsTCM/UmmH3GWqkQI/AAAAAAAACzo/3QMG6tOKQpkV5QhxmYOn1crk1G-XjDiwgCPcBGAYYCw/s320/IMG_20130724_193411.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div><b>So, why am I still querying literary agents? </b>Essentially, literary agents are your friends when it comes to getting your manuscript in front of the editors at the big publishing houses. Also, if you're currently an indie author who's been approached by one of the bigger publishing houses, it's a good idea to get yourself a literary agent. These rare beasts will be able to help you negotiate better terms on your contract. Also, they Know People. And hopefully the Right People.</div><div><br /></div><div>If you're content to carve out a career as an indie author, chances are good you'll probably not need an agent, but for those of us who're aiming at a hybrid career,&nbsp; having an agent when you eventually reach the stage of needing one, is a good thing.</div><div><br /></div><div>So the next question: <b>When do I know that I'm ready to query? </b>Most importantly, you'll have a complete manuscript. <i>Finish your novel</i>. Aim for a sweet spot of around 75k to 100k for adult fiction. Please, for the love of dog, don't be the kind of author who dashes off a first draft and starts querying immediately. Especially if you're still new in this game. No novel is perfect. Take time to edit your manuscript. Get your betas to go through it. Revise it again. Revise, revise, revise, until you are so sick of the thing and want to burn it with fire.&nbsp;</div><div><br /></div><div>I've heard horror stories of authors who started querying their manuscript when it was not finished, only to have an agent request a full submission when only the first 10k words had been written. You really don't need to do that to yourself. Make sure that your novel is the best it can be before you start querying. And don't rush it.</div><div><br /></div><div>What next? <b>Write a query letter. </b>It's as simple as that. To break a query letter down to its basics, you're going to say three things: what your project is, a (brief) summary (about 2 paragraphs) and then your writing credits. An agent (or their assistant) will scan through the queries. Remember they get hundreds of queries a day sometimes. You have, probably literally) about 15 to 30 seconds (if that) to tell them exactly who you are, what you want, and what you have to offer. You need to make that query letter count. My advice: keep it simple. Don't be cute. Don't try to make out that you're the next Stephen King or JK Rowling. Agents and their assistants have seen *everything*. Trust me on this. They're sick of authors who think they're trying to be witty or clever. They see it Every. Day.</div><div><br /></div><div>I always send folks scurrying off to <a href="http://queryshark.blogspot.co.za/">Query Shark</a>. Hell, whenever I'm about to write a query letter, I <i>still</i> go get ideas there.</div><div><br /></div><div><b>Now, what the hell do I send a literary agent? </b>Once I'm done writing my query letter, I save it as a .txt file. This is so that when I copy/paste it into my email, it doesn't have any weird formatting. (Just something I find useful over the years.) I also prepare a longer synopsis of about 2 pages that I save as a .doc, and then the first three chapters and/or first 50 pages as a .doc. Most of the time agents won't ask that you send attachments, and that you paste your query letter, synopsis and sample text in the body of the email. Increasingly, of late, I've seen them use online forms (which is also super convenient, but then they do request that you attach the .doc files as required). Lastly, I also create a one-sentence description or, as they call it, an <a href="https://www.nownovel.com/blog/how-to-create-a-novel-elevator-pitch/">elevator pitch</a>, for the novel.&nbsp; I also try to keep in the back of my mind which existing novels are similar to mine and who the targeted readership is. Some agents request this sort of information.</div><div><br /></div><div>I can sense the next question. <b>Where the hell do I find a literary agent? </b>My two go-to sites are <a href="https://www.publishersmarketplace.com/search/members/category.cgi?c=8">Publisher's Marketplace</a> and <a href="https://querytracker.net/literary_agents.php">Query Tracker</a>. Both sites are super easy to use, and convenient because you can tailor make your searches according to your chosen genre.</div><div><br /></div><div><b>How do I choose an agent? </b>This should be a no-brainer since it makes sense that you choose an agent who already sells in your chosen market. What I do is once I've narrowed down which agencies handle SFF, I take a gander at their recent sales and releases. If I see their tendency is more towards literary or children's fiction, then I think twice about submitting. If I see that they sell mostly to only one or two digital publishers that accept unsolicited queries, I smell a rat. And I most certainly don't submit. Mostly, I pick agents who have sales with the big publishers I usually can't query unless they have an open submissions period. If, by any chance, an agent gets back to me with an offer, I go do my homework, usually by searching the <a href="https://absolutewrite.com/forums/activity.php">Absolute Write forums</a>. Believe it or not, writers talk, and if they have shitty experiences with agents, they'll be quite vocal about it. So, do your homework. Take time to evaluate each agent. Read their profile info on their personal sites to make sure that you're as good a match as you can imagine.</div><div><br /></div><div>Which brings me to <b>the submission guidelines</b>.&nbsp; Each agent will have a preferred method for you to query. Some only want a query letter. Some want your first 5, 10 or even 50 pages of the manuscript. Some accept attachments. Others don't. Which means you DON'T send out an impersonal, blanket bcc email to a hundred agents simultaneously. Don't be that special douchenozzle.</div><div><br /></div><div>It goes without saying too that you need to <b>keep track of your queries</b>. Some folks use Query Tracker. I just make a spreadsheet that I colour code as I go along. It's generally not a done thing to blanket query all the agents at one agency. So make sure that you pick the best fit and only the right fight for you, so that you don't accidentally query simultaneously. I do a query a day for the duration of my querying process. That's 5-10 minutes out of my day where I check out the agents' website, craft my individualised email and then send. And I fill out my spreadsheet as I go along (and that has helped me in the past when I nearly did send queries to two agents at the same agency). Most agents know that you're going to be querying more than one agency at a time, but the common courtesy is that as soon as you've had a request for a partial or full submission, to let anyone else know who may have a full or partial submission.&nbsp;</div><div><br /></div><div>Also, I tend to make about 50-100 queries per project. Yes. That many. About half of these will be polite form rejections. I might get three or four requests for partial submissions (agents wanting to see the first 50 pages). I may even have one or two requests for a full submission. Many agents simply don't respond.<br /><br />Loads of agents say "if you haven't heard back from us in a month, then consider it a no". It's nothing personal. Move on. Ditto for those wonderful form rejections that go along the lines of "this project isn't right for me" or "this project isn't the right fit" or whatever. IT'S NOTHING PERSONAL. Move on. Grow rhino skin. Don't phone them. Don't pester them.&nbsp;</div><div><br /></div><div>Granted, if you have a request for a full, and the agent has been sitting for six months, and circumstances have changed (you may wish to self-publish or have had an offer from a publisher) then of course, do the agent the courtesy of following up. But if your manuscript vanishes into a long, sticky silence, don't let it get to you. This entire industry is all about hurry up and wait.</div><div><br /></div><div>And lastly, keep writing, revising, querying, submitting. Realise that these stories about "JK Rowling got rejected seven times" are fairytales. Authors who make it big are the exception, not the rule. For most of us, it's a long, hard (and unglamorous) slog. You need to channel your inner rhino, and weather the sting of rejections with a super thick skin. I promise you, if you work hard, develop your talent, improve your writing, and persevere, you will see a steady growth. Don't measure yourself according to other writers. They're not you, and their career path is vastly different from yours. Concentrate on being the best you can be.</div><div><br /></div><div>And good luck!&nbsp;</div><div><br /></div><div><i>Need someone to tell you whether your novel sucks donkey bollocks? I offer an assessment service that has helped many authors over the past few years. <b><a href="https://nerinedorman.blogspot.co.za/p/editing-rates.html">See my rates page</a></b>.</i></div>Nerine Dormanhttps://plus.google.com/104344772143861034423noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4213597929854074054.post-18327637984204593472018-02-12T08:42:00.000-08:002018-02-12T08:42:32.853-08:00Goodbye, Chocolate Charlie by Marga JonkerThis is the second Marga Jonker book I've reviewed – from the pile of titles that occasionally arrive unannounced at my front gate. <i>Goodbye, Chocolate Charlie</i> tells the story of Nicky, who is recovering from a terrible riding accident where her horse, Charlie, plunged to his death down a mountain.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-NAAj3TU9Z7I/WoHDfSX0A4I/AAAAAAAAIAk/LTpF0sBIQXUzbD6PZxEholv_yLbChIOrgCLcBGAs/s1600/9780624077381---Chocolate-Charlie-ENG.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="436" data-original-width="280" height="320" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-NAAj3TU9Z7I/WoHDfSX0A4I/AAAAAAAAIAk/LTpF0sBIQXUzbD6PZxEholv_yLbChIOrgCLcBGAs/s320/9780624077381---Chocolate-Charlie-ENG.jpg" width="205" /></a></div>While Nicky's physical scars have healed, her mental scars haven't – much to the despair of her horsey family who live on their big farm in the Cederberg.<br /><br />But the first steps of Nicky's healing being when her grandfather buys a mysterious palomino pony at an auction, and she slowly comes to terms with the events that happened that fateful day.<br /><br />Firstly, I'd say this is a book that will chiefly appeal to younger middle grade readers who're completely horsey. As before, Jonker shows that she's a keen observer of everything equine, so from that perspective, this is a lovely little book.<br /><br />I did find the subplot with the girls coming to stay on the farm to finish their training for a big sporting event a bit tacked on, but the banter between the kids was mildly entertaining. Jonker touches on the work being done by the Cape Leopard Trust, which brings in a nice environmental angle, and also gives a nod to the TV documentary series <i>50/50</i>.<br /><br />The invariable big climax happens, but I kinda saw that one coming a mile away, and felt almost as if it was a bit too conveniently set up. There was a bit of misdirection in terms of the plot with regard to the way Nicky overcomes her fear of riding, which I felt was a nice touch.<br /><br />There isn't much depth to this story, and its parts felt a bit too loosely stranded together for me to be doing backflips in frabjous delight. I'd peg this as *very* light reading, and happily pass this book on to younger readers who might feel differently.Nerine Dormanhttps://plus.google.com/104344772143861034423noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4213597929854074054.post-61457718534714615082018-02-11T10:06:00.000-08:002018-02-11T10:06:00.550-08:00City of God by Cecelia HollandOkay, <i>City of God</i> by Cecelia Holland is a book I'd meant to read ages and ages ago, but have only just managed to finish. I do have a soft spot for historical fiction, and to be quite honest, I went into this one expecting more than what I got out of it.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-G-pcEZxni4Y/WoCF95ME27I/AAAAAAAAIAQ/AhYtDpNpq3coiE2Qrr81FnSxU9jDvZluQCLcBGAs/s1600/City%2Bof%2BGod.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="475" data-original-width="308" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-G-pcEZxni4Y/WoCF95ME27I/AAAAAAAAIAQ/AhYtDpNpq3coiE2Qrr81FnSxU9jDvZluQCLcBGAs/s320/City%2Bof%2BGod.jpg" width="205" /></a></div>I must mention here that I had a Kindle version that was a bit oddly laid out. There were no chapter or scene breaks, so the text really just flowed in one clump, which I found both annoying and somewhat disconcerting, because I had to catch myself figuring out when scenes shifted.<br /><br />The setting's great – Rome during the reign of the Borgias, and Holland does a passable job showing us the day-to-day workings of the ancient city. Our viewpoint character is one Nicholas Dawson, an Englishman whose ex-pat parents died in Spain, where he was raised in a monastery. Somehow, he attached himself to the Florentine ambassador, where he has a nose for intrigue.<br /><br />And intrigue there is aplenty in Rome, when Nicholas gets tangled in the schemes of Valentino, who has a mad scheme to unite the Italian city states under one crown. Plus we have the meddlesome Spanish and French.<br /><br />Nicholas as a character is incredibly bland, and I struggled to even like him. I don't know whether Holland has merely written him as someone who suffers great disconnect with his own emotions on purpose, or if she didn't do a good job to dig a little deeper with character development. Either way, I guess it doesn't really matter. Nicholas comes across a bit like a limp fish, a man of little power and great ambition, who overreaches himself amid the power struggles of his betters ... Or rather I wouldn't even say they're his betters, because everyone in this novel is awful in one way or another, and they all do awful things.<br /><br />Dear Nicholas's attempts at stringing a web of his own are rather dismal too, and while he struggles along, it's clear things are going to get worse before they're going to get better.<br /><br />But.<br /><br />I wanted to like this story, and it had its moments when it held my interest, because I really do love the time period, but I need to have my emotions engaged. The prose all felt very workmanlike, with Nicholas carried along as more of an observer rather than an active participant. In addition, I'm not quite sure whether the proofreader was asleep, but there were quite a few obvious typos – the kind someone would make if they were typing out this entire document from a physical copy ... or using type recognition software but then they just didn't quite get round to employing a human proofreader afterwards. Considering that this novel was first published in 1979, this may very well be the case, which is a pity. And hells, I'll say it again: chapters and scene breaks WOULD BE LOVELY.<br /><br />I've seen Holland compared to the likes of Mary Renault ... but I feel with this novel in particular that there just isn't the spark or the lushness and regal poise that Renault's writing has. Or perhaps it's just Nicholas, and therein lies the rub. The Englishman isn't exactly the most effervescent individual, and the character does the story no favours.Nerine Dormanhttps://plus.google.com/104344772143861034423noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4213597929854074054.post-73367969867123377622018-02-08T23:37:00.000-08:002018-02-08T23:37:49.334-08:00Writers' Life: Six Things I Need to Tell You TodayA post I saw on a writers' group this week sparked off a bit of a fat Facebook rant yesterday. I may have upset some people. I'm not apologising either, because these things need to be said. There's a lot of pressure on writers to make a living these days, to work the algorithms with Amazon, Google, whatever. I lurk about a number of writers' groups online, and I hear wonderful stories about some authors who're absolutely creaming it self-publishing. Bully for them. By equal measure, I see many more authors (the vast majority, in fact) who simply cannot fathom why their books aren't moving. Many become heartsick about their careers. Some even give up.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-bjdtqiCsTCM/UmmH3GWqkQI/AAAAAAAACzo/3QMG6tOKQpkV5QhxmYOn1crk1G-XjDiwgCPcBGAYYCw/s1600/IMG_20130724_193411.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1260" data-original-width="1260" height="320" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-bjdtqiCsTCM/UmmH3GWqkQI/AAAAAAAACzo/3QMG6tOKQpkV5QhxmYOn1crk1G-XjDiwgCPcBGAYYCw/s320/IMG_20130724_193411.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>I don't have a silver bullet for you, sorry. But after more than a decade in this business, I am going to offer you some advice that will give you a little perspective, and perhaps even a glimmer of hope.<br /><br /><b>Burnout is a thing</b><br />There is so much pressure to succeed, that I've seen people push themselves to the point where they have nervous breakdowns. Darlin', I was there. I ended up pushing myself to the point where I had a grand mal seizure. Scrambled brains FTW, along with a drinking problem. I ended up in hospital with liver failure due to an adverse reaction I had to anti-convulsants. I used to work a day job in newspaper publishing, then follow up at night as a freelance fiction editor while still trying to write a book a month. I nearly died. Like ferealzies. For many months after my recovery, I could barely write, and this is after I pushed myself to put out 100k words a month. It's not sustainable. You can damage yourself. You can rob yourself of the love of writing. Repeat after me: YOU ARE NOT A MACHINE.<br /><br /><b>This is not a horse race</b><br />So, you see Bob Penworthy gloating over the 7k words he writes every day. Wow. That means he can write a novel in two weeks. AMAZING. But. BUT. You are not Bob. You are not in a race to see who can poop out X amount of words that are somehow going to make you this absolutely brillo writer who's going to be the next Stephen King. Something I say often to writers: It's quality, not quantity. You are not trying to "beat" someone else's career. Let's be realistic here (and yes, I'm going to say something that's going to sound super depressing). Thousands of books are published DAILY. Yours is but a drop in the bucket. Also, with all the books that are remaining in circulation thanks to digital publishing and print-on-demand, titles are not going out of print. That means the bucket is getting bigger and bigger EVERY DAY. Chances of your discoverability grow slimmer EVERY DAY. You're only going to make yourself sick with despair trying to stay ahead of the tide. ENJOY THE PROCESS OF WRITING.<br /><br />And repeat after me: <b>THIS IS NOT A HORSE RACE</b>.<br /><br /><b>Pace yourself with achievable goals</b><br />Staying along the lines of burnout, and the fact that this is not a race, find daily writing goals that are achievable. Stop worrying about Bob and his 7k words. What can you write that won't make you feel as if you don't have a life. Because, guess what, if you're like most of us who have primary careers that bring in the bread and butter, plus children and other responsibilities, you don't have a helluva lot of time for writing. So set yourself goals that you can keep up in the long term.<br /><br />Yes, there will be times when you have a deadline – I recently had three months in which to outline, write and revise a 100k-word novel for an open-door submissions period. Guess what? I managed to do so without killing myself by *planning* ahead. I found a rhythm that worked for me, and I also had time to watch films, TV series, hang out with friends, walk the dogs. And do my day job.<br /><br />Set yourself targets. For some, it may be writing three or four 15-minute writing sprints a day. You'd be amazed by how many words you can manage in 15 unbroken minutes where you're ignoring social media and other distractions. For others, it's that golden hour before work. Or a lunch hour. Or an hour after dinner. Something I found worked for me while I was writing my big novel last year was the <a href="https://lifehacker.com/productivity-101-a-primer-to-the-pomodoro-technique-1598992730">Pomodoro Technique</a>. But sometimes also just setting myself a target of writing three, 1k-word sprints throughout the day. But mix and match. Some days you might be absolutely exhausted. Then write a minimum of three pages. And go to fucking bed. Get some rest. This is not a horse race. You might find that you'll catch up the day after. Currently, if I'm up to it, <i>I only write two pages a day</i>. This is because I'm busy with the production of a novella that's releasing at the end of the month. I'm going easy on myself because I want to enjoy the process of writing.<br /><br /><b>Every writer is different</b><br />Stop paying attention to Bob Penworthy. Perhaps he's vomiting out fast-paced thrillers, and he's in his zone. And hells, it might even be working for him. But maybe you want to write a novel set during WWII, and you need time to research, take time to develop your characters and setting. Or you fancy you're the next GRRM. I don't know. Every writer is different. (I was going to say something about precious snowflakes but that term's been so tainted over the years that it doesn't even have the meaning I'd have intended for it.) Your career is YOURS. Your books are YOURS. Sure, so Betty Whiplash writes super BDSM erotica involving werespiders. Bully for her. She brings out a book every three months. But maybe she's got a husband who supports her, so she has time to do so. Or Joe Coffeepot is retired, and he's writing his military adventures. He has the resources to do so, so when he brings out his books, his entire situation has been <i>different</i>, and maybe he's had money to throw at an editor that you didn't have. Every book is different, will have a readership <i>uniquely its own</i>. Find your tribe. Build your own support network, and stop worrying about what Bob Penworthy is doing. It might work for him, but it might not necessarily be right for your career. This is not a zero sum game. Just because Bob's earning a triple-digit figure each month from Amazon doesn't mean he's robbing you. So be happy for him if his pooped-out novels are selling, but don't break your neck trying to emulate him if it's going to lead to you ending up in hospital.<br /><br /><b>Set aside dedicated time</b><br />Don't quit your day job just yet. And don't allow your writing to jeopardise your day job either. (Been there, done that, and had the disciplinary hearing to prove it.) I hear all sorts of stories about writers who take their writing to the office, and some even write those 7k words a day AT WORK. Sure, if you've got absolutely no other work, that's fine. But if you're finding creative ways to hide that Word or Scrivener files behind Excel spreadsheets every time your boss walks past, honey you have a problem. Ask yourself this: How focused are you on your actual writing if you're trying to divide your attention between working out a budget or doing a report ... and getting into a writing zone? This goes back to my earlier pointer of setting yourself achievable goals, and being focused on your writing. I can write fast, like the best of them. Hells, I can poop out 2k words in an hour if I'm in the zone. So if you're pooping out 7k words a day at the office, let's be realistic ... you're spending maybe <i>half your work day</i> on your own personal writing ... and either you're neglecting your day job or, even worse, you're being unfair to colleagues (and employers) who have to pick up your slack. Don't be a douchebag.<br /><br />For sure, maybe write during lunch. Or if you *honestly* don't have other work. But don't put your ability to keep a roof over your head (and by default have a space for your writing) by taking the piss at the office.<br /><br /><b>Good books take time</b><br />This should be a no-brainer. Digital publishing has made it SUPER easy to put out books. Hells, it's ridiculously simple these days to publish a book. But ... NO book is ready to be published after you've typed 'the end' on the first draft. Allow your book to lie fallow for a while in your hard drive. Give it one or two editing passes BEFORE you send it on to your beta readers. Maybe even give it a three-month break before you start serious structural edits. If you can afford an editor, that's absolutely brilliant. Don't be afraid to take all the time you need to unpick the threads and revise. A savvy writer will have more than one manuscript at various stages of development, so that they perhaps have one first draft they're crafting, a book mellowing on a hard drive, a book with betas... a book they're outlining... One that's out on the query mill if you're busy looking for literary agents.&nbsp; Some books take years before they're ready. It's easy to poop out a book, but to truly craft a story, where you've been able to take a step back to look at it with fresh eyes, to be unafraid to make necessary changes ... now that takes time. And sometimes time means all the difference between a hastily cobbled-together document riddled with sub-par syntax and typos, vs a polished masterwork you can be proud of for years to come.Nerine Dormanhttps://plus.google.com/104344772143861034423noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4213597929854074054.post-33460159260675085982018-02-03T00:38:00.000-08:002018-02-03T00:38:16.945-08:00Frogs of Southern Africa: A Complete Guide by Louis du Preez & Vincent CarruthersIf this <i>Frogs of Southern Africa</i> by Louis du Preez and Vincent Carruthers had fallen into my hands when I was a preteen, chances are good I might've spent even more time poking about rivers, vleis and any other places where frogs are to be found. As it is, I was that weird girl child who was constantly bringing home tadpoles so she could watch them become frogs. (Alas, my mom's poor jelly bowl that was press-ganged into serving as an aquarium.)<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-r0KontZHCls/WnV0VOz-anI/AAAAAAAAH6M/7xaT1XOt8uEr-ZZd6c7ixUACRf96ROE8wCLcBGAs/s1600/Frogs%2Bof%2BSouthern%2BAfrica.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1135" height="320" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-r0KontZHCls/WnV0VOz-anI/AAAAAAAAH6M/7xaT1XOt8uEr-ZZd6c7ixUACRf96ROE8wCLcBGAs/s320/Frogs%2Bof%2BSouthern%2BAfrica.jpg" width="225" /></a></div>And I loved visiting my grandparents during autumn and winter, as it meant there was a chance that I could find tadpoles. Catching frogs was another matter entirely, but I was pretty quick. And whenever I went hiking or travelling, my mom would always tell me to stop and listen to the froggy choruses. Going to sleep at night, even here at home, when there's been rain, and hearing the frogs – that is without price.<br /><br />Thing is, I've never been able to match up the frogs' calls with their names. Until now. This book is gold, and I suspect it's the kind of guide that will appeal to not only your average nature lover, but also be useful to those who're a bit more serious about their studies.<br /><br />Okay, now the best thing about the book (for me, that is) is the QR codes that link to the frogs' calls. I spent a long, long time identifying all those frogs that I'd heard over the years, discovering yes, that the frogs in my grandparents' back garden were Cape moss frogs, and that yes, I've heard the call of micro frogs. Obviously the downside is that you're not always going to be in an area with internet when you're out and about, but hey ... you can always record the frog call with your phone for later identification (yes, I've done that before). Or you can download the calls to your phone, if you've got the capacity.<br /><br />Next thing: While this isn't going to be the book that you tuck into your backpack while hiking, its size does mean that the many photographs are big and clear enough for you to make good identifications. Not only that, but morphological differences have, where possible, also been included, along with handy size guides for the smaller beasties.<br /><br />The clear distribution maps are useful too, so depending on whether you're only hearing a frog or you've spotted it, you've got two potential methods for identification. More often than not, frogs are heard and not seen, so by having a basic idea of what a particular family sounds like, it's quite easy to go by distribution to figure out which frog you're looking at.<br /><br />The front matter is pretty thorough, giving not only a list of the species in southern Africa, but basic morphology and physiology, reproduction and vocalisation, their environments, their relationships with humans, and field keys and descriptions.<br /><br />I always knew that we had loads of frogs in southern Africa, but I had absolutely no idea of their diversity, and the broad range of habitats in which they live. But something I've come to realise too, looking at this book, is that frogs are an important indicator of our environment's state. Because they are dependent on water, they are often among the most vulnerable species when it comes to habitat degradation and pollution. If the frogs fall silent, then I fear we're in deep, deep trouble. They truly are marvellous creatures that play an integral part in any ecosystem, and are totally deserving of our protection.Nerine Dormanhttps://plus.google.com/104344772143861034423noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4213597929854074054.post-21009719823338029672018-01-29T06:02:00.002-08:002018-01-29T06:02:41.614-08:00Master of Crows by Grace DravenI'm a hopeless romantic at heart; I admit it freely. The moment I read Emily Brontë's <i>Wuthering Heights</i> at age 13, I had a thing for brooding, tormented heroes. I first encountered Grace Draven's writing when I ran across <i><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Radiance-Wraith-Kings-Book-1-ebook/dp/B00S5IDLEQ">Radiance</a></i>, so despite my horrendous reading piles, I still aim to read her older writing: Case in point – <i><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Master-Crows-Grace-Draven-ebook/dp/B005GHN2GG">Master of Crows</a></i>, which is book one (yay!) featuring the sorcerer Silhara, who is the ahem, archetype of Heathcliffian well ... attractiveness.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Q5MlLkkpsbw/Wm8pc1c6NmI/AAAAAAAAH5U/ph81Ne-ugLkCjCML1vXUj7Awep2YuVPmACLcBGAs/s1600/Master%2Bof%2BCrows.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="323" height="320" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Q5MlLkkpsbw/Wm8pc1c6NmI/AAAAAAAAH5U/ph81Ne-ugLkCjCML1vXUj7Awep2YuVPmACLcBGAs/s320/Master%2Bof%2BCrows.jpg" width="205" /></a></div>We encounter the slave Martise, who's the property of the bishop of Cumbria. He promises her her freedom if she can dig up enough dirt to condemn Silhara, who's pretty much been banished to a crumbling mansion. Silhara has had a bit of a rough start in life, and as we discover, he has a reason to have a fair amount of beef with the bishop.<br /><br />Yet Martise finds herself irrevocably fascinated by Silhara as they try to discover how the ancient god Corruption (who's pretty much gasping to possess Silhara as his new avatar) may be defeated.<br /><br />What I love about Grace's writing is that it's easy on the eye, and the story drags you in. If I have to compare, she's got the sweet sincerity of Anne McCaffrey's writing style but the gothic setting so beloved of Tanith Lee, with a hint of Storm Constantine for flavour. Some may find this a wee bit too sentimental, but there are times when I just need a slow burn romance in a dark fantasy setting that slowly unpeels with sensual delights. And Grace has a lovely way of describing her surroundings, the tastes, the colours, that appeals to me.<br /><br />I'm not a huge romance fan, but aesthetically Grace does it for me, and does it well, with more than enough plot to support the erotic elements (which are just right, and not overdone at all). The dialogue between characters also sparkles, and she pays attention to her secondary characters too, so that they're well rounded.<br /><br />So anyhow, these gothic fantasy romances just work for me, even if I'll make a big deal about reading heavier literature, and I thoroughly enjoyed Master of Crows, which I admit sat in my Kobo app for far too long before I pulled it up onto the screen. The fact that I have to rein myself in from immediately rushing off to purchase the next book says something (I'm still desperately trying to read more of the books that have been lurking in my apps for goodness know how long).<br /><br />If Grace does by any small chance end up reading this review, do realise you have a serious fangrrrrl sitting right here fanning herself.Nerine Dormanhttps://plus.google.com/104344772143861034423noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4213597929854074054.post-88952941132549537102018-01-28T05:01:00.000-08:002018-01-28T05:01:09.468-08:00SSOTBME by Ramsey DukesThe first time I met Ramsey Dukes, it was over breakfast at the now-defunct Tibetan Tea Shop in Simon's Town. A friend had put me onto him, as someone I should meet and talk to, and as they say, the rest is history. He is a thinker of rare wit and deep insight, and it is through this slim little volume <i>SSOTBME: Revised, an Essay on Magic</i>, that I've rediscovered my delight in the Western magical system.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-monROzSePtw/Wm3IxhDTnTI/AAAAAAAAH5E/Va_xk-Tb2DwWHvI9LMQqtTdrKDnO15XHgCLcBGAs/s1600/SSOTBME.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="266" height="320" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-monROzSePtw/Wm3IxhDTnTI/AAAAAAAAH5E/Va_xk-Tb2DwWHvI9LMQqtTdrKDnO15XHgCLcBGAs/s320/SSOTBME.jpg" width="212" /></a></div>Dukes outlines a system of approaching our experience of our world into four directions: Scientific, Religious, Magical and Artistic. Each is a valid way of evaluating and making decisions. Each has their own purpose, and in fact, he goes on to show how each individual will at different times employ that sort of thinking.<br /><br />Chiefly, he deals with magic, explaining it as an approach that is unafraid to be selective in which criteria one adopts when it comes to problem solving – IOW, the stories that we tell ourselves to explain a set of circumstances. According to Dukes, magic embraces both truth and falsehood, as well as illusion, <i>knowingly</i>. He suggests that it's not so much how one arrives at a solution, but the point that one's actions produces tangible results, even though they might not be considered logical.<br /><br />A magician, according to Dukes, is aware of his surroundings, of the patterns, and is adept in manipulating them according to a particular expression of his will. [My explanation, using the Parking Fairies is – if asking the Parking Fairies to help you find a spot near the mall entrance on a busy Saturday appears to help you chill the fuck out and find that parking spot, while giving you the illusion that the task was attained easier, then why the hell not]<br /><br />Mostly, Dukes explains how magic is a way to engender wholeness. There's a certain degree of playfulness to it as well, if you ask me. And there's the fact that as a magician you become more aware of the interconnectedness of things around you, and better able to manipulate outcome because of the changes you have wrought to your own responses.<br /><br />Imagination is a powerful tool, and we're apt to be dismissive of it, but often this "set dressing" as it were, adds meaning to how we approach our daily challenges. Also, what Dukes points out is that you cannot use the same criteria to evaluate magic as you would for, say, religion or science. To do so is absurd (and a waste of time). And similar to art, magic is about creating and manipulating meaning around you. And to be unafraid to play with subjective viewpoints – and to do so fluidly and not locked down by dogma.<br /><br />He underscores that Magic, Art, Science and Religion should not be at war with each other, but that those forms of approaching our daily lives are often intertwined and various expressions thereof have prominence at different situations. Magic is merely a way to maintain a perception that is different from the norm, it is about creating powerful metaphors that you can use to solve problems or create change, and embraces both light and dark aspects of Self, so is therefore beyond morality. (Which is probably why religious folks hate it so much.) Magic is what it is, it's how we approach our personal wholeness that matters to us, as individuals, and exploring the unknown. (So no dogma, as such.)<br /><br /><i>SSOTBME</i> came at a good time for me, when I'd hit a stage in my life where I was wondering what the point of it all is in terms of maintaining an interest in esoteric matters. Needless to say, Dukes has offered a rather valuable way of looking at my own work. If you've yet to discover his writings, and this seems like the sort of thing that interests you, I can't recommend him enough. He also maintains <a href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8-NwOu0WV5Qd_U4zOP33sw">a YouTube channel</a> that might be worthwhile checking out.Nerine Dormanhttps://plus.google.com/104344772143861034423noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4213597929854074054.post-41677453858606241992018-01-27T12:31:00.001-08:002018-01-27T12:31:26.765-08:00Jim Henson's Labyrinth by ACH SmithI go into reading novelisations of films rather warily, and unfortunately I was not exactly blown out of the water by ACH Smith's novelisation of the Jim Henson film <i>Labyrinth</i>. To give a little background, this film was hugely influential on me when I was younger – it ranked among productions such as&nbsp;<i>The Neverending Story</i>, <i>Willow</i>, and their ilk, that occupied a large part of my imagination.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-oZTyL-ZPtkc/Wmzhf4d_bZI/AAAAAAAAH4w/OShpApVK9zcTBs2OJQHQUkmNzt7Y0YWdQCLcBGAs/s1600/labyrinth.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="499" data-original-width="365" height="320" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-oZTyL-ZPtkc/Wmzhf4d_bZI/AAAAAAAAH4w/OShpApVK9zcTBs2OJQHQUkmNzt7Y0YWdQCLcBGAs/s320/labyrinth.jpg" width="234" /></a></div>I revisited the film <i>Labyrinth</i> quite recently, but because I'm the special kind of fantasy fan who wants to eke out the full experience over multiple media platforms, I had to get the book too.<br /><br />I wish I could say that Smith's writing does the film justice, but it doesn't. At least not for me. I've always felt there's something a little deeper, grittier in <i>Labyrinth</i>, that the book kinda skates past. On the surface, it may appear a bog-standard quest, and with a strong female protagonist as well (which for its time was quite unusual). But Henson goes a lot deeper, especially pitting a young teen girl, Sarah, against the plotting Goblin King Jareth.<br /><br />There is something uncomfortable in this May-December pairing, verging on the forbidden. Jareth is both creepy and sensual at the same time, and I could go all Freudian and Jungian at the same time, and spend reams and reams of pages unpicking the archetype and frothing about a young woman's awakening sexuality expressed in her opposition to her animus. But I'm not going to, and it's beyond the scope of this review, which is supposed to focus on Smith's writing.<br /><br />Even if the novelisation of the movie was aimed at a middle grade readership, the writing itself feels simplistic even compared to some of the other books in this age group that I've encountered. Smith himself also takes liberties with the script that I feel are unnecessary deviations that don't progress or enhance the plot in any way. Language usage itself is somewhat twee (hence my thinking it might be aimed at much-younger readers ... but then That Scene in the ballroom between Sarah and Jareth is ... well ... not age appropriate and downright creepy.)<br /><br />Smith aims for a near-limited third-person point of view, but he skips between characters randomly, which just annoyed me, along with clunky monologues without developing a strong enough voice for the author-narrator. Perhaps the story might work better if read out loud... I don't know. Just that I've enjoyed better YA literature that doesn't feel as if the author is being somewhat patronising to his readers.<br /><br />(All right, it's my opinion that good YA fiction will appeal to both young and older people.)<br /><br />Despite my misgivings, this is still a decent read. I'm glad I bought this particular edition because, well, duh, I'm a huge fan of the film, even if it's completely cringe-worthy whenever Bowie breaks into song. And those tights...that leave very little to the imagination.<br /><br />I digress...<br /><br />What I like about the book is that they've included some of Brian Froud's concept art as an appendix, along with some of Henson's notes, so for those who're interested in the behind-the-scenes details, these little additions are sweet. Also, it's a pretty hardcover, so will look great on my bookshelf right next to my first-edition English translation of Michael Ende's <i>The Neverending Story</i>... Because that's the sort of fantasy geek I am.Nerine Dormanhttps://plus.google.com/104344772143861034423noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4213597929854074054.post-25041686040136478372018-01-27T03:19:00.000-08:002018-01-27T03:19:12.088-08:00Chain Reaction by Adeline Radloff<i>Chain Reaction</i> by Adeline Radloff was a book that landed on my desk unasked for, but in the spirit of reading outside of my chosen genre, I'll give this one a fair assessment. I must mention that this was awarded silver in the 2013 Sanlam Youth Literature Prize but from what I can see on Goodreads and Amazon, hasn't seemed to have met with much of a response from readers.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-tjAKx8bsThI/WmxgJIendoI/AAAAAAAAH4g/1dTOl5LCJHIzH71jnTkktDtECXqOVudrQCLcBGAs/s1600/ChainReaction.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="435" data-original-width="280" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-tjAKx8bsThI/WmxgJIendoI/AAAAAAAAH4g/1dTOl5LCJHIzH71jnTkktDtECXqOVudrQCLcBGAs/s320/ChainReaction.jpg" width="205" /></a></div>And [sigh] I think I know why.<br /><br />At a glance, the concept behind the story is quite fun. Radloff has essentially written two short stories about the same characters, but employs the butterfly effect in that one seemingly random action in the first chapter has massive consequences later on in the story.<br /><br />But here's where the wheels fall off, in my opinion. The first version of events has a negative outcome due to one character's inaction, while the second has an overwhelmingly positive knock-on effect for all the characters, and while I read, I felt that chain reaction was almost too simplistic in its dualistic expression of the right or wrong way for characters to respond to circumstances.<br /><br />Young readers aren't stupid. If they feel as if they're being preached at, and if the writing is set up to primarily focus on moralistic outcomes, they're going to balk. I know I balked, and often found myself saying, "I can't see teens responding like this, this seems implausible".<br /><br />Look, the writing isn't irredeemable, and the concept of starting the book and reading through halfway to finish the first part, and then turning the book upside down and around to get to the other half ... that's kinda cute in a way. Perhaps the one character I felt that had the most spunk and personality was Alexis. She came across authentic, perhaps because a diary format had been used and her tone came across well. What Radloff then did was jump between different ways of writing for the various characters – first person, second person, cellphone chat, social media. It's an easy way to show that we're dealing with different characters. It also means that it's not that easy to develop an attachment with the multiple characters.<br /><br />This isn't a bad book, but I can't help but feel it's the type of story a guidance councillor might prescribe for their class to read, and if your kid already likes their Harry Potters and <i>The Hunger Games</i>, or whatever else is currently popular for younger readers, they're probably not going to be the reader for this book.Nerine Dormanhttps://plus.google.com/104344772143861034423noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4213597929854074054.post-86451664585823785062018-01-26T00:07:00.000-08:002018-01-26T00:08:27.104-08:00On water security, and attitude I had a long conversation with my mom yesterday, and of course the topic of water came up with Cape Town's current water crisis. My mom grew up during WWII. Her father was a farmer in Hout Bay on the farm Kronendal. They grew veggies, like carrots, tomatoes, cabbages and such. It wasn't an easy life, and from a young age, she was expected to work the same as the adults – both during harvest time and domestic chores. As the daughter of the household, it was expected of her to do her share of the housework, which included doing laundry, and as she grew older, and her mom went back to work as a nurse, my mom took on even more of the work.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-MZvQVCb2rZc/Wmrhi2CYAzI/AAAAAAAAH4I/h_geElfIaGwMGG7wkxWVr0PnRXmH-koNwCLcBGAs/s1600/wave-64170_640.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="452" data-original-width="640" height="225" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-MZvQVCb2rZc/Wmrhi2CYAzI/AAAAAAAAH4I/h_geElfIaGwMGG7wkxWVr0PnRXmH-koNwCLcBGAs/s320/wave-64170_640.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>Her father didn't want her to finish school. He didn't see the point of a woman getting an education. After all, he didn't get a matric and he was doing just fine. But my mom fought to get her matric. On top of her household work, she worked in the store that my grand-aunt ran. And then she still had to make time to study, and she eventually obtained her teaching certificate. This is her attitude, which I understand today has greatly influenced how I approach my life.<br /><br />My mom had to fetch water from a tap outside. This water came from a spring high up on the mountain (so it was untreated). The Hout Bay farming community was very strict about how they maintained that catchment area, as this precious water served several households in the valley. No one was allowed to build or farm in the catchment area. They only got municipal water when my mom was 12. Water that was treated and piped in from Cape Town. So, my mom knows all about how to make do without piped water.<br /><br />I think of all my fellow South Africans who, in this day and age, STILL don't have access to basic water and sanitation, and I understand implicitly that I, as a member of a privileged middle class, have had it easy. And as they say, 'n boer maak 'n plan (a farmer makes a plan). I am fortunate in that I do have the resources available to make this time a little easier, and where I can, I will reach out to others in my community who are not so fortunate (be it that they might need someone to fetch water for them, or find ways in which I, as an able-bodied adult, may assist them).<br /><br />I'm not saying it's right that our government has failed us in terms of water security. You are allowed to be angry and afraid, because we're entering a time of great uncertainty. But use those emotions as fuel to affect change around you. We need to change our attitudes to water. It is a scarce resource in a drought-stricken country. We need to cherish our natural water resources – respect them for they are fragile and precious. We need to look around us for opportunities, such as rainwater harvesting. We need to examine our use of waste water, and where we ourselves may be wasting water unnecessarily.<br /><br />Whether you believe in a god or not, is not the point. It's easy to sink to our knees and pray, but it takes hard work and courage to get to our feet and help each other. I'd like to think that if there is some sort of god, it would prefer to see its children taking responsibility for their own welfare. That is why we have free will, no? Blaming idiot politicians is <i>easy</i>. We have all the proof that they fucked up, and that some of them are blaming us for wasting water, as if that will absolve them of the fact that they didn't take action sooner. But what can *we* do in the meantime?<br /><br />I am my mother's daughter, and I don't kneel.Nerine Dormanhttps://plus.google.com/104344772143861034423noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4213597929854074054.post-48368522517282846462018-01-22T09:18:00.000-08:002018-01-22T09:18:05.780-08:00Overkill by James ClarkeHow many South Africans of my generation remember visiting a lion park or reserve where one had the opportunity of bottle feeding lion cubs? I do. Like many visitors, we were fed the lie that South Africa was breeding lions for "conservation purposes". Sadly, this was far from the truth. Oh, South Africa had thousands of lions, but what these lion parks or farms were not telling us, was that these hand-reared lions were not being sent to go live out their lives in some glorious bushveld. No, they were being shot by wealthy foreigners supporting our country's barbaric canned lion hunting industry.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-x-bAZzo4aoM/WmYcwpKBDWI/AAAAAAAAH3g/cpshDDlvmqgqgW5OR3AhpQD-5p57M5SRgCLcBGAs/s1600/Overkill-by-James-Clarke.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="608" data-original-width="400" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-x-bAZzo4aoM/WmYcwpKBDWI/AAAAAAAAH3g/cpshDDlvmqgqgW5OR3AhpQD-5p57M5SRgCLcBGAs/s320/Overkill-by-James-Clarke.jpg" width="210" /></a></div>This is just one of the topics James Clarke touches on in his book <i>Overkill</i>, which makes for some pretty gripping (and horrifying) reading for anyone who's interested in finding out more about how the African continent's megafauna is faring. If you're wondering who Clarke is, he's one of the founders of the wildlife NGO the Endangered Wildlife Trust, whom I'm sure you'd have heard about if you're conservation minded.<br /><br />Clarke takes you on a journey of understanding the complexities of mankind's relationship with wildlife, and how its colonial past has also contributed greatly to the way the continent's natural resources are exploited today. Whether it's the lion, elephant, rhino or whale, or just generally humankind's attitude to the wild, it's something that needs to be discussed.<br /><br />He lays a large portion of the blame for the current extermination of species at the feet of the Chinese government, and the continued trade in goods such as ivory as well as the misconceptions that rhino horn and yes, even crushed lion bones, serve some sort of medicinal purpose. Clarke doesn't shy away from pointing out that broad-sweeping corruption all the way up to government is responsible for the continued pillaging of natural resources.<br /><br />Perhaps what he doesn't state overtly (and I don't know if this is intentional) is that mankind's increasing population – with its resultant pressure placed on the environment – is perhaps also a factor that needs to be taken into account. We simply cannot continue reproducing at the rate we are. (All right, but that's basically my take on it.)<br /><br />While Clarke doesn't come out against responsible hunting – he acknowledges that proper management of natural resources does have benefits in the long run – I do echo his sentiment that it would be better if mankind could eventually curb this lust to hunt game. The overall picture he paints about the state of conservation in Africa in general, is quite grim, but it's not without its glimmers of hope. For Africa's wildlife to survive, we need to bring together international communities to recognise the importance of the continent's wildlife for all.<br /><br />Clarke writes clearly, and with great passion, and I heartily recommend this book to anyone who has an interest in the environment and its conservation. He touches on a broad range of issues in a manner that is handled sensitively, and it is my belief that this is an important work that attempts to examine the complexities of issues in a nuanced fashion.Nerine Dormanhttps://plus.google.com/104344772143861034423noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4213597929854074054.post-32958788894999726532018-01-13T12:10:00.001-08:002018-01-13T12:10:37.991-08:00Louis Botha's War by Adam CruiseThe moment I saw <i>Louis Botha's War</i> by Adam Cruise, I knew it was a book I needed to read. I'm fascinated by South Africa's complex history, and I was looking for a book that would not only be accessible for someone like me who's not au fait with politics, while also filling in the blanks in terms of history.<br /><br /><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-kSjDKDTFKUk/WlpnjkCyREI/AAAAAAAAH2I/HaZTjO58RfsceLhiCEHX-HxVQTB_iO4ywCLcBGAs/s1600/LouisBotha.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1045" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-kSjDKDTFKUk/WlpnjkCyREI/AAAAAAAAH2I/HaZTjO58RfsceLhiCEHX-HxVQTB_iO4ywCLcBGAs/s320/LouisBotha.jpg" width="208" /></a>Louis Botha is not a figure who's lauded much, yet I know of him because of the statue that is situated outside of the parliament buildings in Cape Town. In terms of South African history, it's still curious (to me) why we'd have a statue of an old Boer general up. Well, now I know.<br /><br />When Louis Botha was prime minister of the South African union, the Anglo Boer War was still front of mind for many South Africans. Botha had the unenviable task of putting a unified army in the field when the UK requested that South Africa invade what was then German South West Africa. How I read the book, it's my opinion that the South West African campaign (1914-1915) was primarily a European war fought on African soil, the bastard offspring of colonial powers' weakening grip on the continent.<br /><br />Cruise focuses on the military tactics Botha and his opponents employed. He discusses the incredible difficulties the armies faced; knowing Namibia, it's not exactly a landscape you go waltzing into. The extremes in temperature and lack of water make it daunting to travel by land across the country now even. Back then, when warfare in Africa was still largely fought by infantry, cavalry and artillery, with minimal support courtesy of motorised vehicles ... I garner fresh respect for what Botha achieved. Aircraft were only starting to be used in warfare, though the railway proved to be absolutely vital too.<br /><br />Yet this is not just a dry book about military tactics. Cruise also looks into the socio-political reverberations caused by this war, such as the rebellion that occurred in the union, as well as the later effects that bloomed into full-scale Afrikaner nationalism. Our history is incredibly complex.<br /><br />Namibia itself is a land that holds special fascination for me, and I admit this is partially due to the fact that I'm married to a Namibian, and we've visited the country a few times. I've fallen irrevocably in love with the wide-open spaces and the incredible diversity of the landscape that can be at times barren and desolate (and eerily beautiful) or the alien qualities of locations like the oasis Goanikontes. What Cruise does exceptionally well is combine a narrative of the conflict with little tastes of the history of the land, so that places I've visited (like the grassy plains just beyond Aus) come to life for me in terms of the past.<br /><br />Louis Botha is revealed as a remarkable individual – not just a statesman (and the devil knows we have few enough of those these days) but also a shrewd warrior. It's doubtful that we have people like this as decision makers in these days of celebrity presidents and career politicians. Granted, Cruise doesn't shy away from the fact that Botha himself was less than perfect (his attitude towards non-Europeans are typical of his time) but he does come across as a reasonable man who was considerably less extreme in his views than Herzog, Verwoerd and his ilk.<br /><br />Cruise gives Botha his due in this slim volume that is easy to read, both informative and fascinating, with well balanced content. I certainly feel as if I have a firmer grip on southern African history of a time period that I was fuzzy about, and in such a way that I engaged with the book from cover to cover.Nerine Dormanhttps://plus.google.com/104344772143861034423noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4213597929854074054.post-32011239289726970092017-12-30T00:12:00.000-08:002017-12-30T00:12:19.616-08:00Alive Again by Andre Eva Bosch<i>Alive Again</i> by Andre Eva Bosch was a review copy that fell on my desk, so it's not necessarily a book I would have chosen to read myself, but in the spirit of fairness, I'll give this winner of the 2013 Sanlam Youth Literature Prize my best.&nbsp;<div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-lgaTudmmMLg/WkdH2PnHLcI/AAAAAAAAH0g/-xpPecd-EL0n1dUdwJSCfLQ3y8IARlY3QCLcBGAs/s1600/AliveAgain.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="435" data-original-width="280" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-lgaTudmmMLg/WkdH2PnHLcI/AAAAAAAAH0g/-xpPecd-EL0n1dUdwJSCfLQ3y8IARlY3QCLcBGAs/s320/AliveAgain.jpg" width="205" /></a></div><div><i>Alive Again</i> tells us the story of Nandi, a bright young girl who grows up in KaNyamazane township. Her mother is a cook by profession, and her father appears to be largely absent – doing manual labour. Her parents couldn't be more different. Her mum believes that her children should have a good education so that they can be the best that they can be, while her father is an embittered man prone to violent outbursts. (It's this strong dualistic divide between good/bad attitudes in the parents that did grate on me a bit.)</div><div><br /></div><div>Nandi harbours dreams of becoming a human rights lawyer, so she works hard towards that dream, supported by her friend Maryke and her Special Boy Bheka. And the friendships between the youngsters is all quite charming, and the budding romance is a lovely counterpoint to the Terrible Thing that Happens. I won't say more for fear of spoilers, but I'm sure savvy folks will be able to read between the lines and figure out what topic I'm skirting around.</div><div><br /></div><div>Bosch's writing flows well and is most certainly accessible, and it's easy to see why the judges liked this story – despite the tendency to indulge in exposition, there is well-defined narrative: Despite the absolute awfulness of The Terrible Thing, this is a tale about hope and about being strong in the face of incredible adversity. Love conquers all, and all that. But. (There is going to be a "but" for those who know me well.) I personally felt that this novel verged on being too didactic and the development of the characters could have had more nuance when I compare this to novels in a similar genre. The style of the narrative is very much like a memoir, so there is more focus on Nandi's feelings and less on direct and indirect characterisation, so layering felt a bit glossed over, and there could have given a little more friction between characters as one would find in real life. As it is, the antagonist's motivations for their actions feels almost left of field, even if they are painted out from the get-go for being a horrible person. (So in that sense they're a bit two-dimensional and even though some sort of historical basis is given to justify their actions, it still didn't ring quite true with me.)&nbsp;</div><div><br /></div><div>I give that it's beyond the scope of the novel to delve too deeply into the darker aspects of the plot, but even that to me felt as if it had almost been brushed off. Granted, I suspect this story was written with the motive for providing a role model for girls who might be in a similar situation, so the transformative aspects that hinge on the Terrible Thing are focused on rather than the negative aspects. (Hence me maintaining my feeling that this story is didactic in nature – the author stating clearly about "universal messages" in the foreword is a dead giveaway, in my opinion.) I'm not certain how young readers might feel about reading a book that's been set up to deliver such an overt message. I guess that's up to individual readers, and I feel that as a devoted reader, I'm a little leery of authors who employ certain devices to progress character development and sound clarion calls for hope and courage, even if their motives come from a good place.</div><div><br /></div><div>I can well imagine this book may be stocked in school libraries or gifted to young readers who may be in need of a bit of inspirational literature. But if you've got a teen who's into their action-packed Harry Potters and Percy Jacksons, then maybe steer clear and try to find something more to their tastes.</div>Nerine Dormanhttps://plus.google.com/104344772143861034423noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4213597929854074054.post-42188267720927047502017-12-29T12:07:00.001-08:002017-12-29T12:07:54.542-08:00Red Seas Under Red Skies by Scott LynchAnyone who finishes <i>Red Seas Under Red Skies</i> by Scott Lynch (book #2 of his <i>Gentleman Bastard</i> series) will understand why I muttered, “Damn it, Locke” under my breath when I reached the end of the book. As always, Lynch weaves a convoluted tale, filled with double crossings after double crossings, until unwary readers may go quite squint trying to keep up with things. And trust me when I say there were times during this novel that I wondered whether a) things could get any worse and b) how the heck the two friends were going to get out of their predicament. Which kept me turning pages, so I guess that’s half the author’s work done right there.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-cOqy2vddgLs/WkagcyETHLI/AAAAAAAAH0Q/LOvaKtI65Wky5OAzReilooRvlPUezYvJwCLcBGAs/s1600/RedSeas.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="475" data-original-width="314" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-cOqy2vddgLs/WkagcyETHLI/AAAAAAAAH0Q/LOvaKtI65Wky5OAzReilooRvlPUezYvJwCLcBGAs/s320/RedSeas.jpg" width="211" /></a></div>I will add that Lynch is one of the few fantasy authors who, in my mind, can get away with writing the kind of shallow third verging on omniscient point of view that he does. He sometimes skates dangerously close to withholding key information, but the break-neck speed of his telling at key moments means that even when he does neglect to share what Locke or Jean knows, he usually shows the rest of his hand soon enough after. So I forgive him. However I will state this much: I am difficult to please when it comes to omniscient third because so few authors get it right. Lynch gets around this by having short sub-sections per chapter, so that he cycles through characters’ points of view as and when it’s necessary, but every once in a while the author-narrator intrudes.<br /><br />For fear of spoilers, I’m not going to go into a general overview of the novel, suffice to say that it starts out with Locke and Jean planning the heist to end all heists – a job that’s two years in the making as they execute their designs of the aptly named Sinspire gaming house.<br /><br />The environment in which they find themselves is decadent to say the least, and I lapped up the descriptions of the people. Lynch’s world building is intricate and layered, and I’ll hazard to say that nearly every small detail is important – so take note. He does a lot of foreshadowing to get around the fact that he doesn’t immediately clue you in with the full details. You’ll know something is afoot, but not much more than that until he reveals.<br /><br />Also, I went into this novel expecting one thing, and about halfway through Lynch pulled the rug from under my feet and the kind of story I thought I would be reading turned out to be something completely different. I won’t say what, but it was awesome, and fun, and he introduced me to some unforgettable characters.<br /><br />Damn it, Lynch. There is The Thing that happens near the end. I won’t say what but I was gutted. Not quite to the degree that I am reading Robin Hobb, but pretty darned close. And that’s all I will say on the matter.<br /><br />Getting into <i>Red Seas Under Red Skies</i> was not immediate, as it felt to me that there was quite a bit of setting up that happened before the story really got underway. Lynch’s style isn’t for everyone, nor is the subject matter – focus is very much on action rather than emotional layering, which he keeps close to his chest. But once I got going, I was invested, and that’s what counts. I really do love the dynamics between Locke and Jean, even if the novel tends to stagger around unexpectedly. The worst part is that I finished reading the novel while on holiday in an area where I had to walk 1km to just get cellphone signal, so at the time I couldn’t go google to see whether there’s another novel to follow up this one… Yeah, it was that sort of book. (And there are more in the series… so I’m happy)<br /><div><br /></div>Nerine Dormanhttps://plus.google.com/104344772143861034423noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4213597929854074054.post-33343336397243254012017-12-14T10:13:00.000-08:002017-12-14T10:13:22.389-08:00What About Meera by ZP Dala<i>What About Meera</i> by ZP Dala is one of those books I chose to read because I knew it would take me way out of my comfort zone, and not only that, but show me a slice of life I'm not privy to. Also, please just take a moment to appreciate the beauty of the cover. Just a little bit. It's even prettier when admiring the book in real life.<br /><br /><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/--KEqp1tfLfg/WjK86Rc5KKI/AAAAAAAAHy4/TdVXXUxk5w4N-jaMm7J1AiA-s9ErDsrDACLcBGAs/s1600/WhatAboutMeera.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1022" height="320" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/--KEqp1tfLfg/WjK86Rc5KKI/AAAAAAAAHy4/TdVXXUxk5w4N-jaMm7J1AiA-s9ErDsrDACLcBGAs/s320/WhatAboutMeera.jpg" width="204" /></a>The blurb on the back goes on about the book being "full of black humour" and goes on about a "woman's attempts to shape her own destiny" but that makes it sound somewhat uplifting. This is, as the title, a story about Meera, an Indian South African woman who grew up on a sugar cane farm in Tongaat, but if I had to think of a subheading for the book, it would be more along the lines of "awful people being awful". And there are many awful people in this book who cross paths with Meera.<br /><br />Dala digs deep beneath the skin of the South African Indian culture, examining the relationships between parents and children, wives and husbands, and the power structures that exist in communities. This is not an easy read, and truth be told, I found nothing at all humorous. Not even darkly humorous. Just crushingly dark and unrelenting – the way I like my books.<br /><br />ZP's storytelling flows between past and present, sometimes digressing to show us more about the people in Meera's life and giving you an idea of what motivates them to be ... well ... the awful people doing the awful things.<br /><br />I'll also have you know that I find this kind of digging under the skin absolutely lush, and some of the imagery is just perfect (like the wedding where the marigolds and human ordure accidentally met) so don't for one moment think I don't like it – I do. Even if the story is heartrending, even if you find yourself shaking your fists impotently at the situations Meera finds herself in.<br /><br />At first she is passive, accepting an arranged marriage, accepting others' decisions for her, but there comes a time when the cumulative cruelty others mete out becomes too much, and Meera cracks. At first she runs back to her parents, but here she is a woman who doesn't know her place. "Go back to your husband," they keep telling her, but instead she flees to Dublin, of all places, in a desperate attempt to find something for herself.<br /><br />And for a while it seems that she's doing all right, that is until she has a passionate affair with an Irishman ... which drives her to The Awful Thing. And it is awful. Truly godawful. And I find it difficult to forgive her. But I do have empathy for her. Meera is broken. Her responses are as a result of the brokenness of her upbringing and her desperate attempts to gain direction in her life (and her eventual failure to do just that).<br /><br />ZP doesn't flinch from ugliness. In fact, she purposefully holds up that cracked, dirty mirror so that we may examine ourselves and how we relate to others. This is not an easy book to read, but I savoured every chapter and the fluidity of the telling that went at exactly the pace it needed to go, even when it digressed to nearly surreal moments that, I feel, did well to express Meera's desperate situation.<br /><br />If you're looking for hope, for some sort of reassurance of something better, this is not your book. <i>What About Meera </i>is an evocative, dark existentialist fugue that revels in the brittle, broken parts of human nature; it's about the realisation that we are all, in a sense, victims of circumstances and there is no escape. It's about not getting the words to the song right, and being okay with that. And then revelling in the absurdity of life, in its short, nasty and brutish nature.Nerine Dormanhttps://plus.google.com/104344772143861034423noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4213597929854074054.post-76625674641454768552017-11-18T10:45:00.000-08:002017-11-18T10:45:02.374-08:00Kingdom of Daylight: Memories of a Birdwatcher by Peter SteynA little back story here: When I was in primary school, Standard 4, or thereabouts, I won a book prize for my academic activities and my class teacher gave me the Robert's Bird Guide for the southern African region. Little did that teacher know that they would be sparking a life-long interest in our avian friends (not that I needed much nudging, since I had grown up on a steady diet of nature documentaries and was still hell bent on going into nature conservation*).<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-aVDjkYpt2ks/WhB_Oq1dujI/AAAAAAAAHnQ/FPAIEs7gswwyJRZ7DoMR8O7IvTX1aKRjACLcBGAs/s1600/9780620742566%2BMemories%2Bof%2Ba%2BBirdwatcher%2B%25281%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1534" data-original-width="1181" height="320" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-aVDjkYpt2ks/WhB_Oq1dujI/AAAAAAAAHnQ/FPAIEs7gswwyJRZ7DoMR8O7IvTX1aKRjACLcBGAs/s320/9780620742566%2BMemories%2Bof%2Ba%2BBirdwatcher%2B%25281%2529.jpg" width="246" /></a></div>So, imagine my frabjous joy when Peter Steyn's <i>Kingdom of Daylight: Memories of a Birdwatcher </i>landed on my desk. [Serious bird geek here, all right?]<br /><br />Anyhow, here's the low-down for those who don't know about Steyn. Though he started out as a teacher, his all-consuming passion for the study and photography of birds led him to eventually go full time with his interest, and this man has written piles of books. Piles. And his photos are just bloody marvellous. His patience for sitting in a hide to snap that one perfect shot makes me realise exactly how much work goes into those wonderful bird books I took for granted when I was younger (yes, I own a hardcover, first edition of <i>The Complete Book of South African Birds</i> that my parents couldn't really afford to buy for me at the time but did anyway.)<br /><br /><i>Kingdom of Daylight</i> is, in a nutshell, Steyn's summary of his adventures throughout his life, from his boyhood in Cape Town, to the years he spent in Zimbabwe before moving back to Cape Town. Each chapter deals with a location or a specific trip, and discusses not only the many birds he saw there, but also offers glimpses into the lives of the people who're movers and shakers in ornithological circles, as well as some background in his experiences while travelling. And this man has travelled...<br /><br /><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-NjrYBPErFOs/Wg80zZvA4XI/AAAAAAAAHmQ/fgIBg_R17_8Ad99S6o-hM1mnKZYcsRudQCPcBGAYYCw/s1600/bat%2Bawards.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="820" data-original-width="498" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-NjrYBPErFOs/Wg80zZvA4XI/AAAAAAAAHmQ/fgIBg_R17_8Ad99S6o-hM1mnKZYcsRudQCPcBGAYYCw/s320/bat%2Bawards.jpg" width="194" /></a>There are times when I wish there'd been more space for more photos, because really, the many smaller images in the side panels are a little on the tiny side, so the layout really doesn't do them justice – even though they do give a better idea of the overall scope of Steyn's experiences. At times I did feel that the writing was a wee smidge on the dry side, but overall I realise that he has so much information that he needs to impart in only so much space.<br /><br />Also, I'm really inspired now myself to sort out my stuff so that I can travel to some of the destinations Steyn has – especially locations like Madagascar and other parts of the African continent. He most certainly has lived a remarkable life. If anything, Steyn reminds me to slow down and really appreciate my own environment because it's not just those exotic birds on any birdwatcher's life list, but most certainly also in the joy of observing the birds I see in my garden every day. Five bats out of Auntie's hat for Peter Steyn.<br /><br /><i>* Fortunately I did something sensible, and studied graphic design, because in hindsight, as much as I love nature, I don't fancy being chased by elephants or acting as a glorified nanny for foreign tourists at some larny private game reserve.</i>Nerine Dormanhttps://plus.google.com/104344772143861034423noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4213597929854074054.post-11007768976129983022017-11-17T11:13:00.001-08:002017-11-17T11:13:45.011-08:00The Thousand Steps (Elevation #1) by Helen BrainFirst off, I must add, that Helen Brain's <i>The Thousand Steps</i> (the first of her <i>Elevation</i> trilogy) has scored what I think is quite possibly the best-looking cover for South African youth literature that I've seen in a long, long time. Wow. It's the kind of book that just begs to be picked up and admired.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-5n_F1WVVueY/Wg80tql-YDI/AAAAAAAAHmI/1n67-dhfNSApr_r4x2HSxTSSO4wO0lcpQCLcBGAs/s1600/Elevation-Ebook2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="446" data-original-width="280" height="320" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-5n_F1WVVueY/Wg80tql-YDI/AAAAAAAAHmI/1n67-dhfNSApr_r4x2HSxTSSO4wO0lcpQCLcBGAs/s320/Elevation-Ebook2.jpg" width="200" /></a></div><br />The story itself stood out for me because while it plays on the usual "chosen one" riff that is so common in SFF, it does so with originality and nuance that I find is so often lacking in the genre. There's a lot going on under the skin.<br /><br />Ebba den Eeden, our protagonist, starts out life in an underground bunker, where she and two thousand other young people are set to work shifts producing food for their community. Or so they think. She's led to believe that the world outside their bunker has been destroyed during a great cataclysm. That is, until she is miraculously "Elevated" at the eleventh hour before her execution, that is. (A rescue in the nick of time that seems awfully convenient, if you ask me.)<br /><br />Ebba's Cape Peninsula is vastly different to the one we know today, and I loved seeing an environment I know defamiliarised. The higher sea level means that the mountain chain of the region has become a string of islands, and the communities living there have a hard life: food is scarce and the disparity between the haves and the have-nots is tremendous.<br /><br />Coping with this sudden turnaround in her world, from being but a lowly drudge to one of the elite, is not easy, and while on one hand I felt that Ebba herself lacked agency in book one, this was, I believe, in keeping with her character development – she is way out of her depth and struggling to know her place and understand the power that she can wield.<br /><br />Yet her intentions are good, even if her naïveté is painful, and though I cringed often as I saw her trying to navigate this society in which she found herself, her words and deeds come from a good place. It cannot be easy for a girl who's followed orders her entire life to kick against an authoritarian regime has infiltrated nearly every facet of the people's lives. Ebba is very much in a gawky phase in this story, where she hasn't fully grasped her power – so expect her to make mistakes and flounder a bit, and for others to take the initiative.<br /><br />There are some lovely secondary characters, like Isi the dog and, of course, Aunty Figgy, whose special brand of magic happens in the kitchen. The world Helen conjures up feels tactile, as if it could possibly just exist in a slightly left-of-parallel universe. Yes, yes, in case you're asking, there is a kinda love triangle. Well not quite. But you'll have to see. I did feel as if the love interest was a bit quick on the draw, but then again there's a lot happening, and we get to the end of book one at a rapid rate.<br /><br />I must add that much of book one does come across like an extended introduction to the setting, giving us all the main players and an indication of conflict – so don't expect any closure. There are loads of threads left hanging, and I'm looking forward to seeing how Helen will weave them together.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-NjrYBPErFOs/Wg80zZvA4XI/AAAAAAAAHmM/MddqSXeGlwsKADRwvAMlRCAHU9asuuQnACLcBGAs/s1600/bat%2Bawards.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="820" data-original-width="498" height="320" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-NjrYBPErFOs/Wg80zZvA4XI/AAAAAAAAHmM/MddqSXeGlwsKADRwvAMlRCAHU9asuuQnACLcBGAs/s320/bat%2Bawards.jpg" width="194" /></a></div>Where Helen shines is that she has a keen eye for understanding how people interact, especially in the subtexts of non-verbal communication, and indirect characterisation, which she brings across often so poignantly. There's a part of me that wishes the story could have been expanded, so that we could've dug deeper. (Though this may also be due to the fact that I'm used to reading doorstoppers, so don't mind me too much.) My biggest criticism was that the action sequences felt a bit rushed, glossed over and cause-and-effect not quite established, but the the sheer depth and breadth of her well thought-out world building, and an entire mythology to unpick, more than makes up for this.<br /><br />My verdict: This is a super awesome story. It reads quickly, and there's much to unpack, and I'm looking forward to seeing where Helen takes this. Five bats squeaking out of auntie Nerine's hat for <i>The Thousand Steps</i>.Nerine Dormanhttps://plus.google.com/104344772143861034423noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4213597929854074054.post-24608458658926985492017-10-23T14:16:00.001-07:002017-10-23T14:16:19.239-07:00City of Masks by Ashley Capes <i>City of Masks </i>(Bone Mask Trilogy #1) by Ashley Capes is one of those review books that has been languishing in my Kindle app for far too long, so I pressed on and finished it. I have mixed feelings about this book. On one hand I really, really wanted to like it because the world that Capes introduces us to is rich in lore. We have Anaskar, a port city, that is guided by those who wear the Greatmasks – objects of power that imbue the wearer with certain powers. We have the Mascare – an elite secret police, masked of course, who police the city. The society itself is almost Venetian in its Machiavellian power struggles as people attempt to work their way to literally living in the top tier of the city.<div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-EyLWsMw6lPI/We5cF_pCcjI/AAAAAAAAHYw/RVIze4M3y4gEIWbnIUJ0gFfAgW8wwY-ugCLcBGAs/s1600/city%2Bof%2Bmasks.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1000" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-EyLWsMw6lPI/We5cF_pCcjI/AAAAAAAAHYw/RVIze4M3y4gEIWbnIUJ0gFfAgW8wwY-ugCLcBGAs/s320/city%2Bof%2Bmasks.jpg" width="200" /></a></div><div>Characters are certainly diverse as they are fascinating – we meet Sofia, who's caught in the middle of an awful betrayal. We have Notch, an erstwhile city guard now reduced to Mercenary. We have the mysterious innkeeper Seto, who is most certainly more than he appears to be. Flir is an exceptionally strong woman. As in supernaturally strong. I won't spoil where she gets her powers. Throw all these misfits together, and you've certainly got an interesting dynamic going. Add in a few mysterious dangerous beasties too, as well as a pair of tribesmen on a holy mission ... and things become downright chaotic.</div><div><br /></div><div>Look, the story was interesting. I never once wanted to throw the book across the room (besides breaking my iPad) but I felt that many of the important plot threads didn't *quite* hang together as nicely as they could have. I can see there were touches were a little foreshadowing happened, but this seemed slightly tacked on and by the by, and nearly coincidental. I wanted more. This book could have been about a third longer just so that the threads could have been a lot more strongly woven more thoroughly enhanced, deeper. Characters sometimes behave in ways that lack sufficient motivation as well. There are odd little bits thrown in that don't quite go anywhere. Or events that are not quite fully explained, though I hope they are developed in the books that follow.</div><div><br /></div><div>Is this a worthy read? Yes. I'll add that some of the stuff that bothered me was the kind of stuff that I'd have caught while doing an assessment. I couldn't quite take off my editor hat while reading, which suggests that this novel could have been pushed a bit harder during editing. But it's not a deal breaker. I was still engaged. I still cared about the characters, and to be quite honest, this will most likely not even bother most readers.</div><div><br /></div><div>There is a rich world here, full of interest, and <i>City of Masks</i> has moments where it shines, which makes it a solid read for those who love fantasy with a sense of immense lore and layers of mystery.</div>Nerine Dormanhttps://plus.google.com/104344772143861034423noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4213597929854074054.post-14672875337626820412017-10-09T11:31:00.002-07:002017-10-09T11:31:18.656-07:00The Not-Quite September fanfiction round-upThis was totally meant to be the September fanfiction round-up but then I wanted to finish this massive AU Solavellan fic called <i><a href="http://archiveofourown.org/works/7942579/chapters/18157138">Schooling Pride</a></i> by AnaChromystic. I’ll give a big-ass disclaimer and say that I normally *don’t* do AUs, but this one tickled me. The writing’s not perfect. My inner editor wanted to slice and dice because the pacing is a bit uneven in places, but considering that I stuck it through to the end, the payoff was great. There’s no magic in this modern Thedas, and Solas is the adopted scion of a messy, horrible wealthy family. The story is all about how an initial hate-fuck with a rebellious Ellana Lavellan turns into something deeper, and how together they help him break away from his abusive family. The ending gives all the feels. I’d hazard to say that this deviates so far from lore nearly all the serial numbers have been filed off, but I still found something oddly compelling about this piece, and the writer gives a lot of emotional depth.<br /><br />PridetotheFall is a writer I’ve been following for a while on AO3 and I was super happy when I saw that they’ve got a new piece up. <i><a href="http://archiveofourown.org/works/11794863/chapters/26602188">Ashes and Embers</a></i> is a one-chapter piece that takes us right to the beginning of the events transpiring in Inquisition. Major plot spoilers: If you’ve not finished Trespasser, then for the love of dog don’t read this story. It’s told from Solas’s point of view. Enough said. For those of us who’re madly and passionately still in Solavellan hell, this story is *just* right. Everything about this story is perfect. The nuances, the layering, the descriptions. Hell, this writer can (and probably should) think about writing original fiction and trying to put themselves out on the market. Enough gushing. Go read it if you think this will be your thing. It’s part of their Beautiful Chains series, which I’m now going to go finish.<br /><br />It was Cullen Appreciation Week recently, so my friends Sulahn and withah collaborated on a piece called <i><a href="http://archiveofourown.org/works/12031014">Strange Behaviour</a></i> – which I then beta-read. I’m a huge Cullen fan (you wouldn’t think so, but jawellnofine, I won’t lie) and this piece nails our favourite Commander’s tone perfectly. It’s a sweet bit of LavellanXCullen warm fluff.<br /><br />And of course I’m totally enjoying part two of withah’s <i><a href="http://archiveofourown.org/works/11849727/chapters/26752101">Warded Heart</a></i> series – especially wonderful for all the Cullenites out there. This story picks up with Cullen and the Hero’s happy-for-now as they navigate their new marriage and the little one on its way in the midst of the events that transpire during the battle with Corypheus. Not the best time to be raising littlies… But what I love about this story is the way the two characters are often at cross purposes because of their outlooks on the mage/templar conflict.<br /><br />That’s it for now. If you have any pieces to suggest, mail me at <a href="mailto:nerinedorman@gmail.com">nerinedorman@gmail.com</a><br /><br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Dawns-Bright-Talons-Nerine-Dorman-ebook/dp/B00LI48Q2Q" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="”_blank”"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-7r2O9HTyq0c/Wdu_qJzgNfI/AAAAAAAAHVA/_GobNT6xEqYuXpriTGx8b8VC88uNCqTbACLcBGAs/s320/DBT%2Bad.png" width="320" /></a></div><br />Nerine Dormanhttps://plus.google.com/104344772143861034423noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4213597929854074054.post-70309979288415381282017-09-25T02:49:00.002-07:002017-09-25T02:49:33.336-07:00The GloamingA little experiment of mine, in design and illustration.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-AUmQleAxecc/WcjRE56tEoI/AAAAAAAAHT4/5ezLT7-GB9MGZDxTe1pFDxjSP2mH5LKAACLcBGAs/s1600/Myth-01.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1141" height="640" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-AUmQleAxecc/WcjRE56tEoI/AAAAAAAAHT4/5ezLT7-GB9MGZDxTe1pFDxjSP2mH5LKAACLcBGAs/s640/Myth-01.png" width="456" /></a></div><br />Nerine Dormanhttps://plus.google.com/104344772143861034423noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4213597929854074054.post-24494144315553885152017-09-21T04:53:00.001-07:002017-09-21T04:53:24.110-07:00The Riven Kingdom (The Godspeaker Trilogy #2) by Karen Miller<i>The Riven Kingdom</i> (The Godspeaker Trilogy #2) by Karen Miller is part of my catching up of all the fantasy novels I've been meaning to read over the years, and it's one of the titles so far that's led me to believe that Miller is possibly one of the most underrated voices in the genre I've encountered in a while. I tucked into book #1, <i>Empress</i>, a while back, and was a bit concerned that I'd lose the thread, but there was sufficient recap in book #2 that I wasn't at a complete loss; Miller touches on the pertinent bits without going overboard.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-xNqN3FlKBlk/WcOoG1ve-ZI/AAAAAAAAHTQ/apo8NeOF2584EG5NSDMg-M0sWZGqsk0oACLcBGAs/s1600/Riven%2BKingdom.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="993" height="320" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-xNqN3FlKBlk/WcOoG1ve-ZI/AAAAAAAAHTQ/apo8NeOF2584EG5NSDMg-M0sWZGqsk0oACLcBGAs/s320/Riven%2BKingdom.jpg" width="198" /></a></div><i>The Riven Kingdom</i> introduces us to Princess Rhian, whose father the king is dying. During more enlightened times, she would have been heir to the throne, but unfortunately for her, the island kingdom of Ethrea still favours a male heir. With her two older brothers being deceased, her fate is to marry the man chosen for her to be her king, and to then produce future kings. So, basically, she's a prize brood mare and all the dukes and the church are gasping to place the future king of their choice on the throne. Absolutely lovely. You can well imagine that Rhian is less than pleased by this state of affairs.<br /><br />Indulged from a young age with an education and some instruction in less gentle pursuits, like fencing, Rhian is not your typical princess, and she's absolutely not going to allow a bunch of stodgy old men tell her who she's going to marry. Add a grasping, power-hungry religious leader to the mix, who seeks to control Rhian after her father's passing, and we're set up for the essential theme that runs through this book – the battle for the separation of church and state.<br /><br />In fact, the theme of religion runs heavy throughout the trilogy, from the looks of things. In book #1, we meet Hekat, who justifies her grab for power through her faith in a hungry, violent god that demands bloodshed. She is ruthless in her actions, and though not a likeable character by any means, is fascinating to observe how she constantly does mental gymnastics to maintain her power and her stance.<br /><br />Rhian also has to balance power and religion. She's from a deeply religious nation, and often her behaviour is very much that of an indulged, untried girl who's used to getting her own way. [I realise this might make people hate her as well.] Yet her intentions, compared to Hekat, are that of being a just, fair ruler. Much like Hekat, she has a great conviction that she is <i>meant</i>&nbsp;to rule, and will do what she must to attain her aims.<br /><br />Not everyone in Ethrea is religious. We compare Marlan, the antagonist – the prolate who wishes to rule through a puppet monarch. He doesn't believe in a god but he will use religion as a way to control people. There is most certainly a strong nod towards the Catholic Church's machinations in this story. On the other hand, we have the formerly agnostic toymaker Dexterity, who gets dragged into the saga rather unwillingly – he has liminal experiences thrust upon him and he is granted god-given power to perform miracles. What he does with his powers is vastly different than what Marlan would.<br /><br />The character I'm sure most loved to hate was Rhian's chaplain Helfred. At first he comes across as a thoroughly despicable, weak individual whose faith makes him annoying as all hell. Yet his redemption arc from a toadying sycophant to a man of true faith is perhaps the most satisfying.<br /><br />The way characters deal with power – the gaining thereof and the loss, makes for a fascinating dynamic. We have former warlord Zandakar, reduced to a slave and rescued by Dexterity, whom I suspect will still play a pivotal role in book #3, and there is the way Rhian realises that she literally holds the power of life and death, and how she is then faced with the choice of what sort of ruler she will become.<br /><br />I realise I've gone on a lot more with this review than I normally do, but that's because this is a book that made me think quite a bit. I will say this much: I didn't like any of the characters, except perhaps for Ursa the healer. Yet there is a lot going on here which makes it a worthy novel to read. There were moments when I felt there was literally a bit too much of a deus ex machina happening, yet I do have to admit that this very issue is central to the plot. Which makes me wonder about the rules applying to deities in this setting (which I'm sure Miller will go into eventually, or at least I hope so).<br /><br />Miller doesn't shrink from graphic depictions of violence, and her characters (who occasionally verge on twee) are very much painted in shades of grey (which then redeems them), so I have to give her this much – she gives a few unexpected twists and turns but all in all delivers a solid and compelling read that has given me much to consider.Nerine Dormanhttps://plus.google.com/104344772143861034423noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4213597929854074054.post-19397280590968740902017-09-20T10:17:00.000-07:002017-09-20T10:17:42.005-07:00Why the reader isn't always rightThe other day, someone threw back at me the idea that a reader can use whatever criteria they like when evaluating a work of fiction. They're right, of course, but I'm also going to call bollocks on this statement.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Y49qBVdUfeg/WcKg4HovkgI/AAAAAAAAHTA/npqvlVct3joRN7mKs2zjyftW5cwIP8nsgCLcBGAs/s1600/knowledge-1052010.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Y49qBVdUfeg/WcKg4HovkgI/AAAAAAAAHTA/npqvlVct3joRN7mKs2zjyftW5cwIP8nsgCLcBGAs/s320/knowledge-1052010.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>I can take any written work, be it the Bible or <i>Fifty Shades of Grey</i>, and I can read the book <b>any</b> way I want to. I can choose to see either of those titles as the product of a raving lunatic or an expression of pure genius. I might be wrong. I might be right. It all depends on who I am and what my values are.<br /><br /><i>The Dark Tower</i> movie might fail the Bechdel Test miserably, in my opinion, but I can't use that as the sole criteria to evaluate whether I think it's a good film (or not). (Or even whether it's a half-decent adaption of a Stephen King novel.)<br /><br />But you see what the problem is here. We're not coming to any objective conclusion as to whether a work has any literary merit whatsoever. How are we evaluating a work?<br /><br />Welcome to cultural relativism, where everyone's opinion is equally valid and we are incapable of gauging whether a cultural object is ... well ... good.<br /><br />Before we go haring off into the hinterlands, let's just look at communication. Books are communication. You've got the author, the cultural environment in which the book happens to be published, and you've got the reader.<br /><br />We'll never know what's really going on in an author's head when they write their masterpiece, but sometimes they'll be interviewed or we'll have access to their journal, or there will be some indication as to what the author's intention was when they were creating a particular work. So, I guess what I'm saying, is keep it in mind that the author may have had particular intentions when they wrote their story, be it to purely entertain or perhaps function as a way to convey opinions. A romance author might intend her story to evoke the feelings of falling in love while a literary author might wish to challenge her readers' opinions about something or the other.<br /><br />Now a book doesn't just float around in a vacuum. It often relates to other media, is perhaps created in response to or borrows from other texts. (This is called intertextuality, a kind of interplay and understanding of the relationships that happen between works.) Look at Neil Gaiman's <i>The Sandman</i> comics – they discuss and comment upon the huge body of works in comic book culture and, by default, human culture at large. [You can read <i>The Sandman</i> without knowing much about comics, but the experience is going to be so much richer if you <i>do</i> have that background.] So you'd also look at <i>when</i> a book was published, and <i>who</i> published it. You will look at its content in context with other examples of media. You will try to understand a work's relation to all these. So, in essence, you'll look at the bigger picture to give you an idea of where the work fits.<br /><br />Ask yourself this: Would a novel like <i>Lolita</i> by Viktor Nabokov be published today? Why not?<br /><br />Now, let's get to the reader. That's you. You don't know what the hell the author was thinking when he wrote the bloody book. Your cultural milieu might be vastly different from that of old Mr Nabokov. Or you might simply never have read enough in a particular genre to gain an understanding of its intertextuality. And now you're reviewing a book. Let's make it a romance novel. A nice, bodice-ripping, breeches-busting rompetty-pompetty. You've never read this sort of novel before. You've only ever read literary novels that are completely embedded with nuance and metaphor, where there're rich, profound cultural references and ideas that make you gaze off into the middle distance pondering the nature of reality.<br /><br />What's your first reaction?<br /><br />To be honest, I wouldn't blame you if you tossed that high-octane romance novel across the room so fast it broke the sound barrier. Here's the deal, and it's going to save you a lot of heartache in the future. Evaluate a novel without putting yourself into it, without using your likes/dislikes as the sole barometer as to whether a work is good.<br /><br />In literary criticism terms, this is when you judge a book based on your own emotions (they call it the affective fallacy and that's all fancy-like). So, you think a character is junk and therefore because you don't like the character, the entire novel is now rubbish. You don't like talking rabbits? Well, that's not the only reason why <i>Watership Down</i> sucks*, is it? What if the author had never intended for a character to be likeable in the first place? Can you see what I'm getting at here? You didn't like the book because there was just sex in it? In fact, more sex than plot? And we all know that only stupid people read sex books, amiright? [That was sarcasm, BTW] Well, how does it compare to other erotica out there? Is it a pulpy small press novel meant to be devoured in one sitting by readers who want to get their panties all squishy and stuck up their butt cracks? You cannot compare this novel to Leo Tolstoy's&nbsp;<i>War and Peace</i>. For the love of fuck, please don't. They're not even remotely the same beasts. You do yourself a disservice if you do.<br /><br />So, what can you, as a reader do?<br /><br />Firstly, read widely and read outside of your chosen genres. Read novels that are considered classics. Maybe take time to read according to theme – like 19th-century Irish authors or the beat poets. Find out what makes the cut-up technique rock. [Fuck it, go read William Burroughs.] Then go read a proper Gothic novel, like Mary Shelley's <i>Frankenstein</i>. Try to paint a broader picture of literature. How does JRR Tolkien compare to Michael Moorcock? Don't just stay in your comfort zone because you're scared of big words. Hell, peaches, there's an entire interwebz out there. Improve your Google-fu if there're ideas or terminology that challenge you. Also, go read reviews for some of these novels. Ask yourself why you agree or disagree with what some of the reviewers say. Try to figure out why someone would come to a particular conclusion.<br /><br />That's not to say you shouldn't read the books you love. Hell, I always have at least one epic fantasy novel's spine cracked at any given moment. But I do try to read stuff I wouldn't ordinarily dip into, like children's novels, dubcon erotica, military SF, classics, Afrikaans literature, historical...<br /><br />Understand, mostly, that you have personal likes/dislikes that mean you'll never <i>like</i>&nbsp;a particular type of book. Hell, I'm not advocating that you suddenly develop a passion for political thrillers, but at least understand why a particular political thriller works as a piece of literature (good pacing, strong characterisation) as opposed to another book within the same genre that is poorly written and filled with cliché-ridden characters. Understand why a romance novel may be excellent within its genre even though you're not going to hold it up next to an intense literary masterwork.<br /><br />I may loathe JM Coetzee's <i>Disgrace</i> with the fury of a thousand rabid camels, but I cannot deny that it's an excellent work of literature, for various reasons that I'm not going to go into now because they'll probably bore us both to tears. I'd sooner get my jollies reading the next Mark Lawrence, in any case. (However I have an idea what books Mr Lawrence has been reading, based on educated guesses related to intertextuality, which makes me quietly smile as I turn those pages.)<br /><br />So, get to know all sorts of genres. Gain an understanding of what the objective values are that make good literature and how that varies between genres. When you evaluate, keep that bigger picture in mind. Look at the technical and aesthetic reasons why a particular work may be successful (or not), and go from there.<br /><br />A book isn't just rubbish or a paragon of literary greatness. There are reasons why, and they're often way beyond your own personal likes and dislikes. Granted, you can use your own criteria as a guide, but try to dig a little deeper than, "I think Mr Joe is a horrible person and this book is sucks great big hairy bollocks."<br /><br />In fact, what you hate about a novel often says a lot more about you than it does about the stupid sod who wrote the blighted thing. Just keep that at the back of mind when you start putting on the hate.<br /><br /><br /><br />* Okay, I don't think <i>Watership Down</i> sucks, but some people might. In fact, I've cried every time I watched the fucking movie, okay? I just have to hear the song "Bright Eyes" and the waterworks begins.Nerine Dormanhttps://plus.google.com/104344772143861034423noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4213597929854074054.post-91631235769083804542017-09-18T10:56:00.002-07:002017-09-18T10:56:25.710-07:00Guide to Sieges of South Africa by Nicki von der HeydeI've been interested in the forces that shaped South Africa's history for a long while now, particularly the Anglo-Boer war, so when I had the opportunity to read <i>Guide to&nbsp;Sieges of South Africa</i>&nbsp;(Struik Travel &amp; Heritage, Penguin Random House South Africa 2017) by Nicki von der Heyde, I grabbed the book with both hands.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-IE9M24r5Ew4/WcAIod30S4I/AAAAAAAAHSo/qk5rfawzEM8Nwf8NeNNQXqKH4Z3pahxFwCLcBGAs/s1600/Guide%2Bto%2BSieges%2Bof%2BSouth%2BAfrica.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1128" height="320" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-IE9M24r5Ew4/WcAIod30S4I/AAAAAAAAHSo/qk5rfawzEM8Nwf8NeNNQXqKH4Z3pahxFwCLcBGAs/s320/Guide%2Bto%2BSieges%2Bof%2BSouth%2BAfrica.jpg" width="225" /></a></div>By no means an exhaustive account, <i>Guide to Sieges of South Africa</i> nevertheless gives a good introduction to some of the conflict that occurred in South Africa, including the frontier wars between the British and the Xhosa, the Zulu, and of course the two Anglo-Boer wars. Nicki's style is engaging and conversational, and brings each siege to life. In addition to a run-down of the individual conflicts, she also sketches an overview of the events that took place that led up to the siege. Each section not only has a wealth of photographic images supporting it, but also information boxes with facts and anecdotes, maps and information for those wishing to use the book as a travel guide. So there's a lot going on here, and it's well put together for such a slim volume.<br /><br />If anything (and as someone who didn't get the opportunity to study history while at school) I came away with a far better appreciation of my country's tumultuous past and the disastrous effects that European colonisation had on the indigenous people. War is an ugly thing, for sure, but I do believe it's important that we have an understanding of the past so that we don't repeat the same mistakes.<br /><br />That being said, I found the smaller details, of the day-to-day endurance of defenders and attackers fascinating, how people overcame challenges despite all the horrors around them. All too often I've driven past some of these locations without an understanding of the history attached and the conflict that occurred, and Nicki has done an excellent job bringing this all to life. This is a lovely book that is very much useful to include in a reference library or to enrich your next road trip.Nerine Dormanhttps://plus.google.com/104344772143861034423noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4213597929854074054.post-42704919647504172212017-09-15T04:34:00.000-07:002017-09-15T04:34:37.708-07:00Prince of Fools by Mark LawrenceI'm a horrible, horrible person because I've taken *months* to finish <i>Prince of Fools</i> (The Red Queen's War #1) by Mark Lawrence (Goodreads tells me I started during December last year and it's quite inexcusable, really, that I've tarried so long). But that's what Mark's writing is to me – something to savour. The Red Queen's War is the next trilogy to get into if you've discovered and loved The Broken Empire trilogy.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-gaGi6dnaTYI/Wbu6R2-jJAI/AAAAAAAAHSM/vkC3eMX_yHk1LeNgqqvX-DI8CsPvaDXMgCLcBGAs/s1600/Prince%2Bof%2BFools.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1121" data-original-width="736" height="320" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-gaGi6dnaTYI/Wbu6R2-jJAI/AAAAAAAAHSM/vkC3eMX_yHk1LeNgqqvX-DI8CsPvaDXMgCLcBGAs/s320/Prince%2Bof%2BFools.jpg" width="210" /></a></div>But let's talk about Jorg Ancrath first, our bad-boy, maverick prince from The Broken Empire. Here we were faced with a delightfully psychopathic adventurer who had absolutely no regard for his own personal safety or long-term survival. Jorg would heedlessly fling himself from one untenable situation to the next, offering astute commentary along the way that signals a lively mind and a somewhat absurd sense of humour.<br /><br />The howling of readers by the time book three drew to a close, that Mark was *finished* with Jorg... Well, it was adorable. [She says with a smile, gives Mark a high five for stopping when the going is good.]<br /><br />Sensibly, Mark went on to create an entirely different tone in The Red Queen's War with our new friend Jalan Kendeth, 10th in line to the Red Queen's throne and unashamedly a lying, gambling womaniser, whose healthy sense of cowardice has kept him alive all this time. While Jalan is no Jorg, he's certainly still a smart-mouthed chap, so his explanation of events as they unfurl is half the fun.<br /><br />Jalan is a reluctant hero. Haring off to the frozen north to face a great evil is the last thing on his mind, but there are larger forces at play in this cracked world where magic is bleeding back in to cause untold chaos. Jalan, and his equally reluctant counterpart Snorri ver Snagason, find themselves bound together as pawns in a game where they don't have all the rules. True to Mark's writing, there is plenty of bloodshed, death, violence, wenching and all the things that soft-hearted, gentle readers may want to avoid.<br /><br />Evidently I'm not a soft-hearted, gentle reader, so I quite happily followed our two lads from one misadventure to the next. Knowing what I do about Mark's writing, and how he puts his stories together, I'm suitably entertained and looking forward to the other two instalments in the trilogy.<br /><br />I must add here that I particularly adore Snorri. Part of me feels as if *he* is the actual hero of the story; Jalan is merely the storyteller spinning a saga about a mythic warrior and father on a quest to save his family. On the outside, Snorri appears to be *just* a hulking brute, but slowly the layers are peeled back and you discover a character of great complexity and subtle intelligence. I like it when that happens.<br /><br />In essence, <i>Prince of Fools</i> is a dudebro quest, so it's probably not going to appeal to those wanting a story that passes the Bechdel test. That being said, there were some cameo appearances that amused me greatly (you'll understand why when you read the book – it does take place during the same time that Jorg has his adventures). And seriously, this was just a huge load of fun to read, gore and all, especially with Jalan's witty observations along the way and some of the unexpected twists that had me shaking my head.Nerine Dormanhttps://plus.google.com/104344772143861034423noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4213597929854074054.post-40795722414380995032017-09-13T13:15:00.000-07:002017-09-13T13:19:47.022-07:00Brigadier and the Spirit Pony by Marga JonkerOkay, sometimes the books I receive to review end up being a bit of a lucky dip in that I get titles I wouldn't ordinarily read, and <i>Brigadier and the Spirit Pony</i>, by Marga Jonker is most certainly one of those titles. That being said, in the spirit of fairness, I will offer a review as free as possible from my usual biases.<br /><br />Firstly, I'm not a horse-mad preteen – the age group Jonker's book is most likely aimed at. It's quite clear from the get-go that Jonker knows a lot about the correct care of horses, down to the minute details, (as much as I know about horses, having grown up around a horse-besotted family member). So if you've got a young girl (or boy) in your family of around 10 to 12, who's nuts about horses, then this may well be the book they're going to read in one sitting.<br /><br /><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-3lzulkSf7EQ/WbmRgqYlP9I/AAAAAAAAHR8/PCKjdVRVgScrkpJf213UcSSCsjCXj0lUACLcBGAs/s1600/Brigadier-and-the-Spirit-Pony.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="435" data-original-width="280" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-3lzulkSf7EQ/WbmRgqYlP9I/AAAAAAAAHR8/PCKjdVRVgScrkpJf213UcSSCsjCXj0lUACLcBGAs/s320/Brigadier-and-the-Spirit-Pony.jpg" width="205" /></a>We meet Gabi and Alex, sisters who are dealing with the fact that their estranged father Ben has just come sailing back into their lives. He couldn't be more different from their mom (who has custody), and after years of not seeing them regularly, Ben's understandably awkward – though to give him credit, he tries really hard.<br /><br />In fact, to give daddy kudos, he's willing to schlep a horsebox containing Gabi's prized horse Brigadier along with them when they go for a stay in a holiday house on an estate situated in the Harkerville forest. But what Ben doesn't at first admit is that his new girlfriend Val will be there too. Awkward. Alex is a bit of a brat, but she does have some redeeming qualities (and reminds me awfully of what I was like at her age).<br /><br />I'm not going to give exhaustive plot details for fear of spoiling, but we do have some adventure time involving an outride in the forest. We meet a kooky landlady who believes she communes with the forest spirits, and the crazy ex-wife overreacts to The Thing that happens. There's a whiff of a love interest and suggestion of supernatural elements... and there is the solving of a mystery. Not all quite on Nancy Drew level, but still mildly entertaining. Not enough spirit pony, if you ask me.<br /><br />Granted, I did feel near the end that there was too much chaos with the addition of a prayer group (it felt a bit contrived), so the ending was a bit more complicated than it should have been with the addition of those extra characters and actions, thereby robbing the story of some of its impact, and my feelings are also that mother dearest overreacted a bit too much (there was a scene involving a camera which seemed an odd plot twist – I mean why care so much about what's on Ben's camera when there are bigger issues at stake?) So yeah, those were the two things I didn't buy so much.<br /><br />I feel if some of this near the ending could have been streamlined, and maybe if the author had dug a little deeper with the development of the Big Adventure We Won't Go Into Depth About, the tension could have been a bit more twisty and stronger, which is what I felt this story needed.<br /><br />Overall, this is a light, horsey read, and I'd quite happily pass this on to the age group I've mentioned. Gabi's a great character in that she is so level-headed when in a stressful situation, and I think she's a great lead character – a resourceful young woman who pretty much handle herself when she's in trouble.Nerine Dormanhttps://plus.google.com/104344772143861034423noreply@blogger.com0